Products are often packaged in containers for retail sale; the variety of containers is as varied as the products sold. The packages or containers serve many purposes such as visually attracting consumers, displaying the product, keeping the product clean, keeping pieces together, and preventing theft. Containers are especially useful if the product has an odd or irregular shape or configuration as placing the product in a container makes it easier to stack and/or display the product. Multiple related products may be packaged together in one container for retail sale.
In a retail environment conventional containers may be stacked on display shelves, stacked on a floor or platform, at end caps or special displays, or hung on display racks. Stacking containers for display purposes has inherent problems—stores have limited display space and containers may not be visible to the consumer if placed on high or low shelves. In many instances in an effort to maximize display space, containers are stacked in tall stacks which tend to be unstable. Even if the stacks are stable, there is a high probability one or more of the containers will fall when consumers manipulate containers in tall stacks. The alternative is to keep the stacks low and relatively stable, however, low stacks of conventional containers will not attract consumer attention.
Thus a need exists for a container that maximizes the use of limited retail display space while presenting an attractive, eye-catching, and stable stack.